Fuck Nazism in providing constructive criticism.

Judging__Eagle · Post by **Judging__Eagle** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:22 pm

Sci-fi that isn't social commentary.... geez, that's actually tough.

Nearly all that I've read gives either a different perspective on things, or discusses current events.

Absentminded_Wizard · Post by **Absentminded_Wizard** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:39 am

Neeeek wrote:
Absentminded_Wizard wrote:That thinking is hilarious to anyone whose first exposure to sci-fi was Star Wars.
Are you under the mistaken impression that Star Wars wasn't social commentary?

If Star Wars was intended as social commentary, it was spectacularly unsuccessful. I mean, I'm pretty sure George Lucas wasn't trying to get Ronald Reagan elected in 1980, but the easiest "political" message to draw from the original Star Wars movies is that Big Government (represented by the Empire) is evil. Of course, one can argue that the fact that the rebels were heroes also led to a greater social acceptance of rebellion and rebel political/military movements.

However, I doubt that George Lucas decided to turn his homage to pulp movie serials into a grand political statement (at least not in Episodes IV-VI). And the position we've been arguing with is the idea that SF isn't valid unless there's an intentional political or social message.

Crissa · Post by **Crissa** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:54 am

I'm confused, but didn't Reagan campaign on a cut-taxes smaller-government platform?

-Crissa

Count Arioch the 28th · Sun Feb 08, 2009 4:57 am

Yeah. The theory was that if you make the rich people even richer, they would be kind enough to share that money with the rest of us.

On a related note, I learned that Republicans were drooling fucking retards when I was 3. (To any conservatives that are pissed off by reading that, I want to clarify: I was smarter than you are when I was a toddler. By an infinite margin.)

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:39 am

Count Arioch wrote:On a related note, I learned that Republicans were drooling fucking retards when I was 3. (To any conservatives that are pissed off by reading that, I want to clarify: I was smarter than you are when I was a toddler. By an infinite margin.)

Dude. That's awesome.

Absentminded_Wizard · Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:44 am

Crissa wrote:I'm confused, but didn't Reagan campaign on a cut-taxes smaller-government platform?

-Crissa

Yep. And if Big Government is represented by Darth Vader, small government looks good.

ckafrica · Post by **ckafrica** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 6:34 am

All conservatives run on smaller government and tax cuts, then proceed to run up the largest deficits in history

Notice how 1980 is the start of the largest rise of US debt since WWII and it starts to drop in 1992 only to rise again in 2000?

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 10:26 am

Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:Yeah. The theory was that if you make the rich people even richer, they would be kind enough to share that money with the rest of us.

On a related note, I learned that Republicans were drooling fucking retards when I was 3. (To any conservatives that are pissed off by reading that, I want to clarify: I was smarter than you are when I was a toddler. By an infinite margin.)

Trickledown effect and so on.

I'd put greater faith in making a living by collecting treasure that dragons drop from above while flying back to their laden hoards; at least then I'd have some kind of guarantee that the money is actually there rather than a credit-based system of lies and I.O.U.s!